Subcommittee Democrats Reveal Republican Hypocrisy in Addressing Federal Wind Energy Initiatives
(Washington, DC) – Today, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s Subcommittees on Oversight and Energy held a joint hearing to discuss wind energy initiatives such as tax credits and Department of Energy loan guarantees. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on wind energy requested by the Majority was also discussed. Testifying before the Subcommittees were Mr. Frank Rusco, Director of Natural Resources and the Environment with the GAO, Dr. Robert Michaels, Professor of Economics at the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics at California State University-Fullerton, Ms. Audra Parker, President and Chief Executive Office of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, and Mr. Robert Gramlich, Interim Chief Executive Office and Senior Vice President for Policy with the American Wind Energy Association.
Subcommittee Democrats effectively highlighted the inconsistent position often relied on by opponents of renewable energy technologies. Incumbent energy technologies, including Fossil Fuels and Nuclear power, have long enjoyed the support of Federal initiatives, even after reaching maturity in the marketplace.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Energy Subcommittee, said in his opening statement, “I hope the Majority recognizes that there is nothing unique about these incentives to the wind industry. Over several decades – or a century, in the case of oil and coal – the federal government has provided hundreds of billions of dollars in support of fossil fuels and nuclear development…We have to acknowledge that the energy marketplace is not a “free” market.”
Democratic Members highlighted the distinction between duplication and waste, particularly as it was defined in the report. Members also emphasized that GAO did not indicate in their findings that there was any clear evidence of waste in federal support to wind. Ranking Member Swalwell raised the point with the witnesses that it is equally fair to question the potential for duplication across all energy sectors and all fuel types with the same level of scrutiny GAO employed in analyzing the wind sector; a point which received bipartisan agreement.
Additionally, the witness for the Minority Mr. Robert Gramlich from the American Wind Energy Association clarified a few points from the GAO report. “GAO acknowledges that nearly ninety percent of the initiatives provided little to no financial support for wind energy…The GAO report fails to note that fewer than one percent of wind projects installed from 2009-2012 took both a tax incentive and a Department of Energy loan guarantee. That is four projects out of 500, and all four of those succeeded and are generation projects with long-term contracts to sell power, so there is no cost to the taxpayer.”
Ranking Member Swalwell re-emphasized the need for an unbiased approach to energy, “The people that drive innovation in our economy – from the National Lab and university scientists who push the frontiers of knowledge, to the venture capitalists who put their money on new concepts, to the industrial firms that scale up manufacturing and infrastructure – all know that government has always played a critical role in making the U.S. the most dominant economy in the world. Our oil, gas, coal, and nuclear sectors are a direct result of that. It is time that we get serious about incentivizing the next winners and doing whatever it takes, from basic and applied research all the way to innovative financing and tax instruments, to ensure that the U.S. has cleaner, more sustainable, and more affordable energy for generations to come.”
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